Toxic Team Members

I’m an Associate in a wonderful practice. I love my clients, the quality of medicine we deliver and, for the most part, our team. But there are some members of our team who are very toxic. They come into work every day with a negative attitude. They complain and seem to place blame on everyone and everything but themselves. How do I deal with this behavior?

MIKE & DR. DEAN’S ANSWER

Great question. We’re pleased that you have landed in a wonderful practice, with great clients and feel great about the quality of medicine you deliver. This is HUGE!

The TOXICITY; however, can really hamper all of the great things about your practice.

Here are a few ideas to handle toxic behavior:

If you have a PRACTICE MANAGER, sit down with that person and share your concerns. Hopefully they will address the behaviors with the toxic employees and co-create a solution.

If you don’t have a practice manager, sit down with the owners and share your similar concerns.

If you’re in a situation where you have no support, you’ll have to choose how you respond and what you’re willing to tolerate. There is a Habit from Stephen Covey who wrote “The Seven Habits for Highly Effective People” which will be very helpful as you deal with toxicity.

His first habit is to be PROACTIVE not REACTIVE. What this means is: the toxic person can say or do whatever they want to us but we get to respond in a way that is proactive and healthy for us.

We can get angry, upset, let it ruin our day and or we can say, “he or she said this. How do I want to respond to that in a way that is healthy for me?” This is very empowering. You’re in control.